Kings XI no more Kings at home

IPL 3 has been a roller coaster ride for many teams but for one team it has been a total disaster. No prizes for guessing which team that is. Kings XI Punjab sank to a new low as they lost their 5th game out of 6 games that they have played. Knight Riders outplayed them in every department as they lost their 3rd successive game in their home ground. Maybe they should shift their base like Deccan Chargers: P. To make matters worse Sangakkara has been banned for the next match as his side was found guilty of not completing their overs on time, for the third time in the IPL.

Kings XI Punjab

Chasing 184 Kings XI got off to a bad start when Boparra was adjudged LBW off the 2nd ball from Bond. The replays however showed that the ball wouldn’t have hit the stumps. Kings XI decided to send Yuvraj as an opener. The plan seemed to work until Agarkar was introduced into the attack. Playing his first game he got smashed for a 4 and a 6 but he got Yuvraj to mis-time one which was brilliantly caught by Tiwary. Bisla too was dismissed giving Agarkar his 2nd wicket for the day. The two srilankans Sangakkara and Jayawardne steadied the ship but they were not able to maintain the rate required. They were trying to keep wickets in hand and go for the onslaught later but that plan backfired as Jayawardene and Sangakkara got out in quick succession leaving Kings XI in disarray. In the end they could only manage 137 in their stipulated 20 overs falling short by 47 runs. PHOTOS

Kolkata Knightriders

Kolkata won the toss and decided to bat. They made quite a few changes bringing in David Hussey, Agarkar and Tiwary leaving out Owais Shah, pujara, Murali Karthik and Ishant Sharma. Bret Lee was making his first experience for the Kings XI. “Gayle vs Lee!! During Earth Hour! All the power that’s getting switched off is gonna be generated at Mohali.” It turned out to be that way as the first over from Bret went for 19 runs. Srivastava replaced Lee for good as Bisla caught a beauty to send back Gayle. Ganguly and Tiwary added 79 runs in less than 10 overs. Ganguly played a captains knock as he reached his 50 in 37 balls before he ballooned up meekly for a simple catch off Pathan. Mathews and Hussey got out cheaply but Tiwary smashed 21 runs off the last over from Irfan to end the innings on a high note. PHOTOS